Where have you seen or heard there are Hexagenia mayflies.

Fall river has always been the most iconic location.

We have them on Lake Natomas.


Help me make a list.

Lake Almanor
Butt Valley Reservior
Antelope Lake

To name a few, Almanor is famous for the Hex hatch and not to far away Butt Valley Reservoir. Lake Davis has been getting some hatches as well, the Thermalito Afterbay too!

Lance Gray says this is the list so far:

Fall River
Lake Almanor
Butt Valley
Thermaleto Afterbay
Davis Lake
Siskiyou Lake
Lake Natomas
Antelope Lake


I know they have them back in the northeast US.

They get swarm that can be seen from space.

They call then "Michigan Caddis"....?

Lance's new list:

Fall River

Lake Almanor

Butt Valley

Thermalito Afterbay

Davis Lake

Siskiyou Lake

Lake Natomas

Antelope Lake

Walker Lake

Tule River

Henderson’s Springs (private property)

Lake Amador

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill Kiene semi-retired

Lance's new list:

Fall River

Lake Almanor

Butt Valley

Thermalito Afterbay

Davis Lake

Siskiyou Lake

Lake Natomas

Antelope Lake

Walker Lake

Tule River

Henderson’s Springs (private property)

Lake Amador

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Bill,

You forgot about the Famous "Williamson River" in southern Oregon.

Carl Blackledge

Good one Carl......thanks.









Besides lake Natomas I heard we get them hatching on the side backwaters ponds, sloughs on the lower American river.

Hi Bill,
When I was going to school in Michigan, they called them "Giant Michigan Mayflies". We fished some epic hatches on the Au Sable and Pierre Marquette for huge browns in late June then followed the bugs "up north" to the upper peninsula. The hatch started popping around 10pm and went all night and there were millions of them clinging to everything. We also fished hex hatches on stillwaters in Minnesota and Wisconsin and the bullheads, a kind of catfish, would vacuum spinners off the surface the next morning. After a few days of the hex, the fish were so gorged they wouldn't eat any more. Wild times

I don't remember the Hex called a Michigan Caddis but I do remember a wet fly we used for Great Lakes steelhead called a Michigan Caddis tied on a big hook, like a #6 3XL, with brown palmered hackle over a slim fur body and swept-back mallard quill wings that looked like a monster old-school English or Catskills wet fly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonoman

Hi Bill,
When I was going to school in Michigan, they called them "Giant Michigan Mayflies". We fished some epic hatches on the Au Sable and Pierre Marquette for huge browns in late June then followed the bugs "up north" to the upper peninsula. The hatch started popping around 10pm and went all night and there were millions of them clinging to everything. We also fished hex hatches on stillwaters in Minnesota and Wisconsin and the bullheads, a kind of catfish, would vacuum spinners off the surface the next morning. After a few days of the hex, the fish were so gorged they wouldn't eat any more. Wild times

I don't remember the Hex called a Michigan Caddis but I do remember a wet fly we used for Great Lakes steelhead called a Michigan Caddis tied on a big hook, like a #6 3XL, with brown palmered hackle over a slim fur body and swept-back mallard quill wings that looked like a monster old-school English or Catskills wet fly.

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That is so cool.......I have heard and read so much about fishing the Great Lakes area......it is nice to get real feedback........thanks.

Bill;

Retired California Fish and Game Biologist Kenneth Hashagen published a paper in California Fish and Game Quarterly many years ago that indicated the California distribution of Hexgenia limbata californica included most of the Sacramento and San Joaquin river system from the Delta upstream including many lower elevation reservoirs. Permanent slow moving or still water habitats with silt bottoms were the common factor.

The first time I saw Hexgenia limbata californica was in 1969 when the mayflies were covering the wall of a gas station under a light near the lower Merced River. The largest number of adults I have seen at one time were at Ladd’s Marina in the Delta in the late-1980’s, and on the shady side of the DFW Feather River Fish Hatchery Annex raceway walls off Highway 99 near the Thermalito Afterbay in 2012. In both instances there were thousands of the adults.

Dennis
www.dennisplee.com

Thanks Dennis......there must be hundreds of places where those big beautiful mayflies exist.



Maybe that would explain why small to medium yellow poppers are so popular for panfish?

I grew up in the Driftless Region of the Upper Midwest. There are 1000's of them all summer long, everywhere. Check any exterior light source. We would "catch" hex by pinching their wings together. Then, bait them on jig hooks for crappies.

Very small hatches have recently been observed on Lake Pardee. First hand account.

The Snake in town in Idaho Falls gets a small Hex hatch, we used to have them flying around the RIO offices.

Mellaluca Field night games lots of them.

Hey Tony P. what have you been up to

I remember taking my mom to dinner 25 years ago or so in Folsom. A bunch of hex were on the wall of one of the buildings, and she exclaimed “Oh my gosh, Canadian Soldiers!” She remembered them coming off Lake Erie by the millions when she was a little girl in Cleveland (late 30’s and early 40’s, covering the store fronts and making the streets slick.

On the flip side, I’ve lived on the north shore of Natoma for five years and haven’t seen one since I’ve lived here. I fished them at Willow Creek in the 80’s and early nineties, but they seem to have disappeared. I’ve walked the bike trail on lots of June and July evenings, not a rise, nada.

Late response, but I found this thread and wanted to mention that earlier this summer I encountered a couple on Rollins...

NK

Maybe that is why we have small yellow poppers for panfish?